Apparatus for the electrolytic deposition of metals



Aug. 23, 1932. M. DEVECIS 1,873,826

APPARATUS FOR THE ELECTROLYTiC DEPOSITION 0F METALS Filed May 14, 19:0 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 23, 1932. M. DEVECIS 1,373,826

APPARATUS THE ELECTROLYTIC DEPOSITION 0F METALS Filed May 14, 1930 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVN'TgR Aug. 23, 1932. I DEVECIS 1 ,873,82 6

APPARATUS FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC DEPOSITION OF METALS Filed May 14, 192503 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig.5.

} Fig.8.

W 1 J3 rec a Patented Aug. 23, 1932 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEMICHAEL DEVECIS, or BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, ASSIGNOR 'ro SOCIETE woman: WALD-Bnne, or PARIS, FRANCE APPARATUS FOR THE ELECTROLYTIC DEPOSITION OFMETALS Application filed May 14, 1930, Serial No.

In a. previous application filed on 4th December 1929, Serial No.411,663 in the name of Mr. Devecis, for: galvanizing process, isdescribed a process adapted to improve the electrolytic deposition ofmetals, on small articles in bulk; this process essentially consists incausing a supplementary force to act, which force is capable of pressingthe articles against a portion of the wall of the vessel in which theyare treated, and thus to ensure a more efficient action of the currentparticularly when strong densities of current are necessary such asforexample in the case of the chromium electrolyte.

The apparatus forming the subject-matter of the present invention isadapted to carry the above process into practice. It is essentiallycharacterized by the application of stationary magnets orelectro-magnets in the vicinity of the rotating vessel containing thearticles to be treated or by having such magnets rotate around thestationary vessel. These magnets or electro-magnets are so arranged asto attract from the outside the inside laying articles to the wall ofthe vessel.

These magnets or electro-magnets are also so arranged as to insure thedisplacement and the turning over of the articles. For that purpose,according to a first form of execution, the magnetic force isinterrupted, in the case of permanent magnets, by removing the magneticfield of the vicinity of the vessel, while in the case ofelectro-magnets, the curdium of a contact which is automatically openedfrom time to time, thus interrupting the attraction and allowing thearticles under treatment to alter their position. In a second form ofexecution, the magnets or electromagnets have dissymmetricallydistributed polarities, or polar'surfaces of different sizes,

this ensuring the turning over of the articles,

. without the interruption of the current being necessary.

V The invention is characterized, moreover, by an anode movableaccording to the'axis of the vat, so that it can be immersed therein 1or removed from the same, and which is provided with an electro-magnet.The latter is supplied with current at the time the 452,432, and in-Franee December 27, 1929. I

anode is removed from the vat, so that it draws along with it thefinished articles. At the end of the stroke of the anode, the current isautomatically cut oil, and the anode allows the articles to fall. Thelatter are received in a trough which is withdrawn during the operation,and which comes under the anode when the same is out of the vat. In amodification of the invention, the anode is pivoted on the carriage, sothat this anode, once raised, can take a vertical position before thecurrent is cut off at the upper electro-magnet. When the anode has takena vertical position, the current is switched oil in its electro-magnetand the articles fall into a receptacle arranged on the side of theapparatus. I v

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of exampleonly, in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a profile view of the apparatus.

Figs. 2 and 3 are two sections made respectively according to line AAFig; 1.

Fig. 4 is a profile view of a modified view of execution.

Fig. 5 is a back view of 4.

Fig. 6 is a section of the electro-magnets placed under the vat.

Fig. 7 shows another modification of the electro-magnets.

Fig. 8 is a diagram of the latter.

As illustrated in the drawing, Figs. 1 to 3, the apparatus comprises aframe a on WhlCh are mounted the various parts arranged according to ageneral axis X X, more or less inclined, this inclination being, in theexample shown, of about 60. The articles are. treated in'a vat bconstituting the cathode this vat has a nonmagnetic bottom, or isprotected by a member made of nonmagnetic material, for instance a plate2; the said vat, supported by a disc 0 which may be nonmagnetic in orderto avoid the loss of magnetic energy, is held by a ring 0 On anotherring a, or on the same ring 0 rubs a brush supplying the negativecurrent.

This vat b can be made of metal, and in the case of sheet steel, it isprovided with a nonmagnetic bottom, or lined-at the bottom with a membermade of nonmagnetic material, as above stated. For avoiding anyunnecessary consumption of current and any metallic deposit, the innerwall can be coated with an unattackable insulating material, such asglass, porcelain, earthenware, etc. For certain electrolytes, the vatcan be lined with lead, wood, or it can be-made entirely of wood, orentirely of insulating material,

earthenware, etc. also lined at the bottom with a nonmagnetic plateacting as a cathode to which the electrolysis current is supplied bysuitable means. The cathodes can also be arranged within the vat, allround it, and

connected to the ring I) The plate 0 is rigid with a shaft d on which issecureda pinion d gearing with a worm d which drives it.

The articles to be treated are pulled against the bottom by theelectro-magnetic system, according to the essential principle of theinvention. The said system may consist in an annular electro-magnet earranged .beneath the vat, Fig. 1. If the vat is sufiiciently wide, itis desirable for obtaining a uniform field, to constitute the magnet bymeans of two or more annular concentric windings e e ,asdiagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 6; this-figure shows clearly theshape of the metal armature of this electromagnet which comprisesseveral annular manner in the circuit of the electro-magnet.

When the conducting portion of the'disc f is in contact with the wiper,the current passes. When, on the contrary, the insulatmg portion 7 is incontact with the wiper,

the current is cut off. It results therefrom,

that, during a certain time, the articlesare drawn against the bottom ofthe vat, this allowing the electrolysis current to pass through them.When they are released the rotary movement ofthe v'at stirs the saidarticles, owing 'to the inclination'of this vat. The'duration oftheinterruption'may be adjustable.

a cam, or the like.

The arrangement which has just been described allows to carry out afirst method of operation. of the electromagnetic system.

The invention comprises a second method of operation which isparticularly characteristic. Under the vat. are arranged several Itsuflices to vary the time during which the wiper does not touch theconducting portion by any suitable means, such as polar masses, forinstance four in number (Fig. 7), care being to form a dissymetricaldistribution of the polarities. In fact, a polar distribution such that,by'following the contour of the circumference of the vat, the.

combination NSNS or NNSS is found, tends to hold the articles in a fixedposition w thout rocking movement of the said articles.

Such combinations are suitable only for thefirst method of operationabove described.

For obtaining the turning over of the articles, particularly in the caseof fiat members, combinations such as NNNS or SSSN are necessary. i

Generally speaking, for the latter purpose, the magnetic poles must haveone polar surface larger than the other, as diagrammatically illustratedin Fig. 8, or the reverse arrangement, the south pole being the mostextended.

With this arrangement of the poles, the

displacement and turning over of the articles in the vat take placewithout having to out ofi the current at intervals, even for fiatarticles.

The same vat can Work according to either of both methods of operation,by adjusting i the cam of the switch for giving it a predeterminedvalue, or a zero value.

In case it is desired to carry out the first methodof operation with thesystem of electro-magnets of Fig. 7, it is necessary to arrange underthe vat a magnetic steel or sheet metal plate which creates a partialmagnetic short circuit, or to connect the electro-magnets so as to comeback to the first method of operation, with an arrangement of poles suchas NSNS or NNSS. 1

The application of this plate under the vat, or the modification of theconnection are. useful for .certain works, particularly for thetreatment of long articles.

Whatever may be the arrangement of theelectro-magnet, 'it is surroundedby a nonmagnetic sheath, for instance formed of lead,

for protecting it against any damage by pro- I jections of electrolyte.

The anode is constituted by a metal member hprovided with anelectro-magnet i;

the Whole is protected by a le'ad jacket or 3 casing j which does notpresent any remanent magnetism. a

This anode is carried by a carriage 70 Capeble of sliding ona rail 1.This movable structure is balanced by acounterweight m bearing onrollers.

On the carriage is arranged a contact 1', (Fig. 1) whichcan slide on arail 0. This contact is inserted in the circuit of the electro-magnet z.At the end of its upstroke, the contact it engages with a small plate p,madeof insulating material, this opening the circuit. 7 o On the anodeis secured a thermometer 4 (Fig. .4), with an indicating dial 5 whichallows to know at any moment the temperature of the bath.

In the arrangement of Figs. 4 and 5, the anode is rendered rigid throughan arm 6, with the carriage k. This carriage runs on rails Z. It isprovided with two upper rollers 7 wider than the lower rollers 8 (Fig.2). The rails are provided with notches 9, into which can enter thelower rollers, but not theupper rollers. Opposite the notches arearranged guides 10 (Fig. 4).

The circuit of the elect'ro-magnet i is completed by means of twobrushes 1:}, n on conducting railso? and 0 (Fig. 5), connected to thepositive pole and to thenegative pole. At the end of the stroke, whenthe anode has .been raised and has moved away by rocking, the current iscut ofl by the passage of one of the wipers on a plate made of insulatmgmaterial.

The carriage lc carries another brush 11,

which comes in contact with an end of the conducting rail 12 connectedto the positive pole when the anode has completely lowered. Thesecontacts supply the electrolysis current which is cut off as soon as theanode begins to rise.

An adjustable abutment 13 stops the carriage in its downward movement,this adjusting the depth to which the anode is immersed.

In order to avoid that at the time the anode is introduced into the vatthe over-flow pours out, the vat is provided with a kind of ledge ortrough u through which the excess of liquid is led to an overfloworifice v (Fig. 1).

This device allows of introducing into the vat 1n a contlnuous'manner,for instance by means of a pump, cold liquid which renews theelectrolyte and cools it, issues through the overflow orifice andreturnsto a-tank from which it is sucked again by the pump.

This liquid can be contained in a tank 14 '(Fig. 4) provided with adouble casing 15 in the which hot water or cold water may be caused ,tocirculate, according as it is desired to raise or lower the temperature.Heating means can be provided for reheating this water.

On the troughm may be placed a (nonrepresented) arrangement, viz: a pipeconnected with a ventilator with the object of exhausting the fumes ofthe electrolyte'during the work.

The ventilator, the pump and the apparatus may be worked by one singlemotor.

The operation is as follows:

When the articles to be treated have been placed in the vat b the anode,is introduced therein by acting on the carriage 1a. For that purpose, ahand wheel can be rigidly secured on the shaft, 9, or can be arranged inany other manner. .The negative current is supplied to the vat and thepositive current to the anode. Moreover, the current is sent in thelower electro-magnet e.

For remedying the inconvenience consisting in that the deposit tends totake place on one face only of the articles to be treated, theelectrolysis current is reversed at the end of va given time, afterhaving cut oil the current at the lower electro-magent and after sendingthecurrent to the magnet of the anode, so as to lift the articles.

Once the operation is finished, theelectrolysis current is cut off bymeans of any circuitbreaker, then the current is cut oil at the lowerelectro-magnet e and is sent to the upper electro-magnet z'. The anode his then raised. The later draws along with it the articles treated. Atthe time the contact 11. comes on to the insulating plate 1), thecurrent of the upper electro-magnet i is automatically cut oil. In thecase of Fig. 1, the articles then fall in a trough 1' which has come tothe position indicated in full lines, whilst, during the opening of thevat. At the end of the stroke, the current of the electromagnet z is cutoff, the anode, which has drawn'alon the articles with it, immediately.releases t em, and the said articles fall into' a hopper provided with ascreen, or other suitable receptacle.

It'is obvious that the improved apparatus can be devised according toother forms of construction. Thus, the vat can be fixed and theelectro-m'agnet e can be movable.

These electro-magnets instead of being I underneath the vat, can bearranged around the latter.

'In the case of the second'met-hod of operation, it is not necessarythat the vat should be inclined, as it can also be vertical.

The arrangements above described are given by way of example only, allthe details of construction, the forms, materials and dimensions can bevaried without departing thereby from the scope of the invention.

Claims 1'. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic systemin close contact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles tobe plated, and means to-impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system.

2. In an apparatus for. the electrodeposi- -tion of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic sys,

.tem in close contact with the body of this vessel and facing thearticles to beplated, a non-magnetic sheet forming the bottom of thevessel.

3. In an apparatus for the electrodeposi- -tion of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the system and to regulate the time during which thecurrent is cut off.

5. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vessel adaptedto contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic system in closecontact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles to beplated, and a cam adapted to periodically cut off the current to thecathode electromagnets.

V 6. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic systemin close contact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles tobe plated,

this electromagnetic system having poles of dissymetrical polarities,and means adapted to impart a relative movement of said vessel and saidpoles.

7. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vessel adaptedto contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic system in closecontact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles to beplated, this electromagnetic system having poles of dissymetricalpolarities, and means adapted to suitably modify the polarities of theelectromagnetic system.

8. In an apparatus for the electrodepositlon of metals, a vessel adaptedto contain .the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic system inclose contact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles to beplated, this electromagnetic system having poles of dis- ;symetricalpolarities, a plate of metal creatmg a partialmagnet short-circuit.

9. Inan apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vessel adaptedto contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic system in closecontact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles to beplated, means to impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system, a movable anode provided with an electro-magnetby means of which the articles are removed from the vat simultaneouslywith the anode.

10. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic systemin close contact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles tobe plated, means to impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system, an arrangement to reverse the electrolysiscurrent in order to produce the deposition of metal on the surface ofthe articles not yet treated.

11. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic systemin close contact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles tobe plated, means to impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system, means adapted to give to the anodean upwardmovement and a movement of inclination in order to draw articles anddeposit them into a receptacle near the vessel.

12. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic systemin. close contact with the body of this vessel and facing the articlesto be plated, means to impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system, a movable anode, an anode-supporting carri ageand guide means therefor for allowing the anode to move away from thevat at the end of the upward stroke.

13. In an apparatus for the electrodepositionof metals, a vessel adaptedto contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic system in closecontact with the body of this vessel and facing the articles to beplated, means to impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system, a movable anode, an anode-supporting carriage,rollers" on said carriage, rails forming a track for the rollers,passages in the rails, the width of the upper rollers being greater thanthat of the lower rollers, permitting the latter alone to pass in theentrances of the rails causing the anode to rock.

14. In an apparatus forthe electrodeposi- L.

tion of metals,-a vessel adapted to contain the articles to be plated,an electromagnetic sys tem in close contact with the body of this vesseland facing the articles to be plated, means to impart a relativemovement to said vessel and electromagnetic system and means forautomatically switching on the electrolysis current when theanode islowered in the vat, and cutting it off as soon as the anode rises.

tion of metals, a vessel adapted-to contain the articles to be plated,an electromagnetic system in close contact with the body of this vesseland facing the articles to be ing carriage, an adjustable abutmentlimiting the strokeof the carriage and thus determin- 15. In anapparatus for the electrodeposiing the depth of the immersion of theanode.

16. In an apparatus for the electrodeposition of metals, a vesseladapted to contain the articles to be plated, an electromagnetic s stemin close contact with the body of t is vessel, and facing the articlesto be plated, means to impart a relative movement to said vessel andelectromagnetic system, a vat with a trough adapted to avoid theoverflow of the liquid and permitting the circulation of same with theobject of renewing and cooling the electrolyte. MICHAEL DEVECIS.

